1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to silicone-containing baking papers which do not present health concerns, and which provide non-stick performance with a variety of foods processed at high temperatures.
2. Description of the Related Art
An age-old problem in both home baking and industrial baking industry concerns the ability to remove baked (or heated) foodstuffs from their baking pan. Centuries old solutions to these problems have involved, inter alia, greasing the pan with butter, lard, vegetable oils or other oleaginous substances, at times then applying flour over the oleaginous coated surfaces. These methods are in wide use, but are only partially effective. Moreover, these methods are not effective for a wide range of foodstuffs, for example candies, caramel apples, etc.
On an industrial scale, the methods previously described are even less suitable, as considerable manual labor is associated with preparing baking pans, and the pans must be intensively washed and dried prior to the next use.
The availability of pans coated with fluorinated polymers such as TEFLON®, or pans coated with silicones or even constructed entirely of silicone have become useful, in particular in home baking. However, these products are often unsuitable for commercial operations due to their higher cost, and the propensity to receive surface damage from repeated use. Moreover, like pans coated with oleaginous substances, a thorough washing is generally required.
To avoid these problems, or to minimize the amount of cleaning which must be performed, baking papers have been used. Baking papers have been provided in several variants. Parchment paper, for example, has been used for this purpose, but generally requires greasing and flouring. The parchment paper, even though greased and floured, still sticks to some foods tenaciously, although not generally to the pan. Its use involves considerable manual labor.
Waxed paper has been available for decades, but is effective on some baked foods but not others. In particular with foods which have a considerable fat content, the fatty substances may partially dissolve the wax and strongly adhere to the paper. Wax paper cannot be used in high heat applications.
Silicone-coated baking papers have also been available, but like wax paper, are not suitable for use with some baked foods. For example, such coatings have poor grease and oil resistance. These coatings are also expensive.
The industry standard baking papers are papers coated with formulations which contain chromium stearate. One example is QUILON® coated parchment paper. Again, such coatings are not useful with all baked goods. In particular, like silicone coatings, these coatings have low grease resistance. Moreover, the use of chromium compounds is under severe scrutiny. For example, chromium stearate-coated paper cannot be used in a wet batter application.
As can be seen from the prior discussion, baking papers must perform satisfactorily on a wide range of baked goods, and selection of suitable coatings must not only take into account possible health-related effects, but also the temperatures involved. In the latter respect, “baking” and “baked,” in the context of the invention, applies to operations for forming foodstuffs which will contact the baking paper at elevated temperatures. For example, this may include depositing a heated candy or the like onto the baking paper without any actual time in a hot oven, or more traditional baking operations such as the baking of bread, muffins, scones, cookies, cakes, soufflés, pies, and the like. Thus, the suitability of a coating formulation cannot be assessed based on use of similar formulations for room temperature or close to room temperature operations. For example, silicone-coated paper, chromium stearate-coated paper, and wax paper all generally behave flawlessly at room temperature, with a wide variety of foodstuffs, yet all suffer from deficiencies at elevated temperature with at least some foodstuffs. Behavior as a baking paper is unpredictable.
The wide variety of foodstuffs and their constituents contributes to the problems of suitable baking paper coatings. For example, many foods contain proteinaceous substances such as whey, casein, albumin, and gluten, and which at least partially denature during the baking process, forming sticky gels. Sugars frequently caramelize during baking, condensing to very sticky substances. Other constituents may include oleaginous substances such as butter, lard, or vegetable oils. Some foods, such as fruit pies, may contain acidic substances (fruit acids), while others, such as shortbreads, corn breads, and cakes, may be basic due to the use of inorganic leavening agents such as baking soda.
There has been a long felt need to provide a coated baking paper whose use is acceptable with respect to human consumption, which is economical to produce, and which is effective for a wide variety of baked goods.